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Sprint may have taken a backseat lately to John Legere and his unorthodoxUnCarrier ways, but the Now Network's, once again, moving fast to cover new LTE territory. With today's market expansion news, Sprint LTE is now officially available throughout New York City -- not just in the Bronx and Brooklyn -- though note that 4G coverage is still not all-pervasive. Sprint's also continuing to roll out "enhanced 3G" service as part of its Network Vision plan, which should translate into better speeds and stronger signals for its subscribers -- all thanks to infrastructure upgrades. An additional 45 smaller markets, mostly located in the south, will also now see LTE service "turned on," bringing the carrier's LTE coverage to 230 markets in total. To see if Sprint LTE is now live in your area, check out the PR after the break.

Today, Sprint expanded its existing LTE coverage for customers in the Chicago metropolitan area. Not stopping at the Windy City, the carrier dropped six more regions into its high-speed bucket: Indianapolis, Indiana; York and Franklin County Pennsylvania; Santa Rosa California, Vallejo, California; Shenandoah County, Virginia and Southern Puerto Rico. These may not be the highly populated areas that some people are craving, but be mindful that some big city folks have encountered phantom 4G with a promise of the real thing coming soon. As Sprint moves forward with its network development plans, hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer before the LTE train makes a stop in your neighborhood.

We can't say we're exactly surprised Sprint would be bringing its 4G LTE waves to one of the biggest markets on the West Coast, but there's nothing like hearing it straight from the horse's carrier's mouth. Earlier today, Sprint announced its developing Long Term Evolution network will be hitting San Francisco (and some surrounding areas) in the "coming months." That's not it, however, as the Now Network also let it be known that it will be flipping the switch in more than 20 other new markets, including Fort Wayne, IN, Emporia, KS, Greenwood, MS, Joplin, MO as well as Napa and Petaluma in California. At this very moment, it's unclear what Sprint's definition of "in coming months" is, but at least folks living around these areas now have some reassurance that they, too, will be enjoying some faster speeds on one of those LTE-equipped devices. The full list of lucky markets can be found inside the presser below.

If simple vanity trinkets don't excite you, Sprint has something else to tempt you in -- four new LTE devices. The new line-up includes two phones, a tablet and a USB dongle, so hopefully something for everyone. The phones? The 13-megapixel toutin' Optimus G (as we suspected) and Mach (a cheaper, 1.2GHz dual-core, 4-inch, 1080p capable QWERTY ICS phone), both by LG. If you need a little more screen real-estate, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will be joining the other Koreans with its 1.5GHz dual-cores and 1,200 x 800-screened ICS on the good ship Sprint too. Happy with your notebook, and just want the service? Sprint's adding a Plug-in-Connect USB dongle to the menu also. No deets on cost and dates we're afraid, with "fall" being all the info we've got right now. Feel free to delve into the PR after the break, in the meantime though.

Last we heard Sprint was prepping to launch its LTE network in 100 cities in the "coming months." Well, a tipster just sent along a some info that seems to indicate that Chicago and Boston will be online before September is out. According to the leaked memo, towers in the areas surrounding those cities should start lighting up soon, with both metropolitan centers set to become "discoverable" on September 21st. Now, that doesn't mean LTE will officially launch in those cities on that Friday, merely that 4G capable devices may start picking up the signals. From that day forward Sprint will be in pre-launch mode in Boston and Chicago, as they build out infrastructure to support the shift to a new wireless platform.

Sprint's efforts to bring LTE to the masses have led to a large amount of frustration from the consumer base, but an announcement made by the carrier this morning shows that it's hard at work to rectify that. The Now Network is nearly ready to blanket up to 100 markets with the high-speed data tech in the near future, and the full list of cities (shown after the break) can expect to enjoy LTE in the "coming months." That leaves a whole lot of wiggle room for Sprint, admittedly, but at least the company is not backing away from its Network Vision goals. Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington DC are among the major markets listed, but take a look below to see if your municipality has made the cut this time around.

Sprint 4G LTE service is expected to be available in the coming months in Chicago, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. And that's not all. We expect to bring Sprint's all-new network to more than 100 new cities during this period.

After making therounds with Mr. Blurry Cam, Sprint's rumored LG LS860 'Cayenne' handset has taken a breather from its photo tour and made a stop at the FCC. The federal filing reveals that the smartphone uses LTE bands tailored for the Now Network (CDMA 850 / 1900; LTE Band 25) and totes NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, SVLTE (simultaneous voice and data) and the usual suspects of WiFi b/g/n and GPS. If other details previously gleaned from the grapevine hold true, the mobile will be powered by a flavor of Android 4.0, pack a 4-inch WVGA screen and a 1.2GHz dual-core S4 processor. There's no word from LG or Big Yellow about the phone's official debut, but its FCC appearance means that it could soon show up packaged and properly photographed in the US.

More Info

The future of Motorola post-acquisition may still be a mystery, but the manufacturer has managed to stay quite active over the last few weeks: it unveiled the Atrix HD, its first smartphone with an HD display and native ICS build, and there's already much anticipation around Verizon's Droid RAZR HD ahead of the holiday season. For the here and now, however, it's Sprint's turn to soak in the Moto love with the Photon Q 4G LTE. (Say it five times fast.)

Naturally, the name of the phone doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. As you'd expect, it's a follow-up to last year's Photon 4G that trades WiMAX for LTE and adds a full-sized QWERTY keyboard. What the name doesn't tell you, though, is that this phone costs a lofty $200 on contract, and features a qHD ColorBoost display (not to be confused with the Atrix's 720p screen, which uses the same branding). In other words, it's gotta be pretty good to have any success at that price point. How does the latest Googorola device hold up against the rest of Sprint's LTE lineup? Is it worth the premium? Follow us southward to find out.

Sprint mentioned that one of the holdups to get its LTE network rolled out is waiting for fiber-optic backhaul to be connected to its network sites. Of course, the company also mentioned a very different reason: birds. It turns out that some of the towers have become home to some avian families determined to hamper the uptake of high speed internet, which won't be activated until they migrate. We wouldn't advise you go with a stick trying to poke the nests from the sites -- we suspect the Humane Association is on the lookout for angry nerds.

Sprint's second quarter figures have arrived, showing that the company's billion-dollar gamble on the iPhone isn't working right now. While it sold 1.5 million Apple-branded handsets in the three month period (40 percent to new and postpaid customers), it recorded an operating loss of $629 million and a colossal net loss of $1.4 billion -- compared to an operating loss of $255 million and a net loss of $863 million in the first quarter. Operating revenues of $8.8 billion improved on those in the first quarter by a single percent -- mostly due to higher service fees from its wireless offerings. It's also grown its cash reserves, up from $128 million last quarter to $267 million today, and can point to 442,000 postpaid and 141,000 new prepaid subscribers pushing the company's customer base up to 56 million nationwide -- mentioning that 60 percent of former Nextel users chose to remain with Sprint during the enforced change.

The figures reveal that Sprint's eating around $782 million due to the shutdown of the Nextel platform and a further $184 million to end leases on antenna sites for the moribund network. It's also having to take a hit of $204 million due to its investment into infrastructure partner Clearwire. It's affirmed its $1 billion lending facility, contingent upon purchasing gear from Ericsson to help build its LTE network, which it aims to have installed in 12,000 sites by the end of the year. Of course, that purchase was prompted by the collapse of Philip Falcone's doomed LightSquared project, which caused the Now Network to lose $66 million in cash and its childhood innocence when it comes to trusting other people.

Update: Big Yellow also mentioned that it has no plans to adopt a shared data plan to follow AT&T and Verizon.

A few weeks back, Sprint had said its fresh Long Term Evolution waves would be hitting a total of five markets by July 15th, but it looks like one lucky city is seeing the changes kick in a wee bit earlier than expected. According to S4GRU, the site's been hit with endless tips from folks like yourself, all claiming The Now Network's LTE signal is now live in Kansas City, while others are also noticing the speed boosts in places like St. Joseph, Manhattan and Missouri. How about you, though? Is your shiny new LTE-capable slab (read: Galaxy S III or EVO 4G LTE) now getting the "true 4G" treatment? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

What's that? A Motorola phone with Sprint LTE, EVDO and the model number XT897 getting approved by the FCC? Why, it looks like this could be the Photon Q LTE! We weren't able to glean much in the way of detail save for the fact it packs NFC and LTE band 25 (Sprint's 1900MHz flavor), but this is good news for Motorola fans disappointed in the dearth of new handset options over the last six months. Head to the link to get your fill of measurements and other fun numbers.

With the phones no longer locked up in customs, the HTC EVO 4G LTE has already shipped out to pre-orderers last week, but it still hasn't been made available in your local Sprint store or third-party affiliate. That will all change this Saturday, June 2nd, as the Now Network has announced that the device will launch "in most retail channels." If you're hoping to grab one, just make sure you get to sleep early on Friday night so you can enjoy your new toy well-rested.

It's only been a few days since we first heard the rumors about an upcoming, Sprint-bound LG quad-core slab, and now that same LS970 "superphone" is back for more action. Thanks to yet another snap acquired by the folks over at BriefMobile, we can now spot a couple extra details on the device, including its previously unknown NFC capabilities. Contrary to earlier beliefs, the alleged LG Eclipse also seems to offer a removable battery, which is likely to make some power users very content. Something tells us this isn't the last we're going to see of this super handset, though, so we'll keep you in the loop if any more noteworthy findings appear.

Third time's a charm...
Three's a crowd...
She's once, twice, three times a lady Nexus...
Three's a magic number...
Good things come in threes... or is that sneezes?
Okay, so maybe there isn't anything clever we can say to get you hooked, but do we really need to lure you in at this point? The Galaxy Nexus is, arguably, not only one of the best Android phones on the market, but one of the best phones, period. So, there's no reason to expect the Sprint variant ($199 on contract) would be anything short of incredible. Still, there's only one way to find out. Follow along after the break as we put the newest member of the Nexus family through its paces and see how it stacks up against its Verizon and unlocked siblings.

If you've been on the hunt for Sprint LTE devices that won't yet function on the carrier's latest 4G network (that, ahem, isn't even scheduled to go live until this summer), May 18th seems to be the day to call in sick. The company's first LTE/WiMAX/3G hotspot will be making its way from the Sierra Wireless manufacturing line to your door for the princely sum of $99.99 (after a $50 rebate and a two-year service agreement) on that date. Data plans range in price from $35 for 3GB to $80 for 12 gigs, on whichever network happens to be available in your area. There's a 3,600 mAh battery on board, which will reportedly keep you online for up to eight hours, along with an Overdrive Pro-like info screen for displaying key stats, like remaining power and your wireless key. You'll find a hearty list of suggested usage scenarios in the press release just past the break, if for some reason you need a PR push to discover just how such a device will fit into your life.

If you were thinking "how wonderful, but..." when you learned that Boost was getting a new 4G handset, hold that thought. If reports from Technobuffalo are to be believed, both Boost and Virgin Mobile will be renewing their vows with host provider Sprint and getting access to its 4G spread. Surprisingly, this apparently only extends to the existing WiMAX, not LTE infrastructure. While WiMAX isn't Sprint's favorite 4G flavor, it has at least committed to keeping it going for a while yet, enough time for you to upgrade once more at least.

Sprint's Steve Elfman has said that the company's intending to activate an LTE service over its 800MHz spectrum by 2014. Big Yellow's already received 3GPP certification to turn Band 26 into super-fast mobile internet, the only remaining regulatory hurdle left to overcome is a thumbs-up from the FCC. The due date isn't set in stone, as it'll depend entirely on how quickly the company can force current iDEN users to migrate to its CDMA Direct Connect service. Meanwhile, LTE service in Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City and San Antonio will activate across next year, with the company confident that it'll be able to keep pace with AT&T and Verizon's services by offloading traffic onto Clearwire's TD-LTE Network which should go live by June 2013. We can only guess that after that the announcement was done, Mr. Elfman looked at a picture of Philip Falcone and had to step outside for a little cry.

Pre-orders of Sprint's first LTE-capable device, the LG Viper 4G, begin tomorrow. The Now Network is keeping quiet on an official release date for the time being, but that isn't stopping the carrier from sharing a few crucial nuggets of information with its employees first. We got our hands on a screenshot apparently informing Sprint's forces that the device will be all yours for the buying on April 22nd, through your choice of retail sales channels and online stores. No new details are revealed otherwise, and we still don't know exactly when the LTE service itself will go live, but we're definitely seeing a light at the end of this tunnel.

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androidexclusivegoogleleakleakslglg viperlg viper 4gLgViperLgViper4gltemobilepostcrossrumorsprintsprint lteSprintLteviperviper 4gViper4gWed, 11 Apr 2012 13:40:00 -040021|20213396http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/sprint-lte-coverage-plans/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/sprint-lte-coverage-plans/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/sprint-lte-coverage-plans/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsSprint customer? Still supping from the 3G cup? Well if you were wondering if you'll ever get to try the sweet taste of LTE, wonder no more. The Now Network revealed a coverage map at the RCA Expo, and the image above was kindly grabbed by PC Mag's Sascha Segan. Those green areas are the locales that'll be getting LTE, and as you can see it's a fairly comprehensive -- though not altogether surprising -- spread. The rollout is said to be planned for completion by 2014, so you've still got time for that handset upgrade. Those of you in Montana or one of the many other blue areas on the map aren't entirely forgotten, though, as these regions will have roaming agreements in place, so no need for an extra contract just yet.

We just got invited to a special party put on by Sprint and HTC on April 4th to witness the latest collaboration between the two companies. Could this be the LTE-capable One X we heard about yesterday? No matter what it is, Dan Hesse and Jason Mackenzie will be there, so you know it's going to be kind of a big deal. We'll join the two head honchos there as well -- and we're definitely looking forward to it.

Update: TechoBuffalo has it on good authority that it'll be the One X (dubbed "Jet") unveiled in New York City, and will almost certainly boast LTE. Then again, so will Sprint's eventual edition of the Galaxy Nexus, which is growing more and more dated with each passing hour.

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4g4g lte4gLtecdmadan hesseDanHesseeventhtchtc jethtc onehtc one xHtcJetHtcOneHtcOneXjetltemobilepostcrossnyconeone xOneXpress conferencePressConferencesprintsprint lteSprintLteTue, 20 Mar 2012 17:08:00 -040021|20197436http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/sprint-galaxy-nexus-fcc/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/sprint-galaxy-nexus-fcc/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/sprint-galaxy-nexus-fcc/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsThe Samsung SPH-L700. It may sound like a silly combination of letters and numbers, but it just so happens to be the model number for Sprint's version of the Galaxy Nexus -- and it's officially made it through the prying eye of the FCC, still on track for a launch in the first half of 2012. It sports LTE band 25, which is the 1900MHz flavor Sprint has chosen to use when it launches its take on the next-gen network in the near future. The latest variant of the Nexus also keeps in line with the measurements on its Verizon counterpart and offers support for 850 / 1900 CDMA, Bluetooth and NFC. It doesn't offer up many more secrets, but how often do FCC docs slip up and spill all the beans? With the government's approval in the rear view mirror, we're hoping this means we'll be seeing the real deal quite soon.

If you were keeping score during Apple's iPad keynote on Wednesday, you noticed AT&T and Verizon listed amongst the carriers that will get the new iPad, but what about Sprint? It's going to be rockin' LTE in the not-too-distant future, after all. Well, if our eyes dost not deceive us, what we're seeing above (and below) may help put friends of the Now Network at ease: the new iPad for Sprint has arrived in Best Buy's internal inventory system. Does this mean we're going to see the devices magically show up next week at the electronic megastore? Eh, we wouldn't count on it showing up that soon. But is it possible that Sprint will have Apple's iconic tablet ready to go alongside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus when it launches its multi-billion-dollar 4G investment? If that's part of the strategy, then nicely played, Dan. Nicely played.

Update: After hearing from several Best Buy employees, we've gotten a clearer explanation of what's being displayed these database shots. As we're told, each listing is evidently referring to different Sprint plans for the iPad, rather than specific models of the tablet. That said, this info still does seem to corroborate nicely with the notion that Sprint's likely landing Apple's slate at some point in the future.

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4gappleexclusiveipadipad 3ipad hdIpad3IpadHdltemobilepostcrossnew ipadNewIpadsprintsprint ipadsprint ipad hdsprint lteSprintIpadSprintIpadHdSprintLeteSprintLteFri, 09 Mar 2012 17:57:00 -050021|20190351http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/galaxy-nexus-sprint-rumor/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/galaxy-nexus-sprint-rumor/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/galaxy-nexus-sprint-rumor/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments
See that? That's a Galaxy Nexus... for Sprint. The Android 4.0 handset -- only available in an unlocked HSPA+ form and on Verizon Wireless' airwaves today -- is currently being pimped in an official Sprint ad over on CNET, and it's probably no coincidence that it's live just moments after CEO Dan Hesse talked up the carrier's first LTE markets. Crazily enough, we had a similar situation a few years back at CES, where the Palm Pre actually emerged here on our own ads prior to the handset being properly revealed. We've reached out to Sprint and will be updating this post as we learn more, but here's what's true should the ad prove legitimate:

We're looking at a familiar 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display, Android 4.0, a 1080p movie mode, front and rear cameras, and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. For those keeping count, that's 300MHz more powerful than the 1.2GHz chip in the HSPA+ and VZW models. If you're going to launch an LTE network, might as well snag a phone like this, right? Maybe. What's strange is that the first LTE markets for Sprint won't light up until the middle of the year, at which point the device beaming above will likely be old news. Beyond that, there's the question of Sprint's unlimited stance -- the operator's been holding firm to date, but it'll surely become harder to justify a "truly unlimited" option when its smartphone base starts flocking to handsets like these.

Update: Not surprisingly, the ad has been yanked. The cat, as they say, remains "out of the bag."